Lisa Earle McLeod: How Obama Can Solve Healthcare in 90 Days
I've spent my most of my career as a sales and leadership consultant. That's a nice way of saying, I've spent two decades mediating turf wars, solving organizational problems, and teaching people how to get other people to buy what they're selling.
I also wrote a book about resolving conflicts. But more importantly, I'm a tax-paying, business-owning American who is sick of shelling out her hard earned money for less than great health care while my elected officials bicker about my children's future.
I can tell you right now:
The reason the Democrats are struggling to get healthcare passed is because they made the classic management mistake of trying to sell an initiative before they had widespread support for the inherent truths behind it.
One in three CEOs will be fired this year because of a failed change initiative. The reason so many leaders fail isn't because their ideas are bad; it's because they fail to effectively communicate why they're making the changes in the first place. Healthcare is no different.
The problem: The Dems tried to close the deal on the plan without fully communicating the core truths of the problem. The real issues have been camouflaged by months of muckraking and fear-based falsehoods.
The solution: Put the plan on pause and reframe the debate around the core truths on both sides.
Here's a simple, three-step process that Obama (or anyone else who wants to actually solve the problem) can use to reframe the debate, get the job done, and close the deal within the next 90 days.
Step 1. Get the truth on the table
Establish a finite (7 or 8, not 70) number of big-picture goals like no debt for next generation, maintaining a free market, the ability to choose your doctor, providing care to the currently insured, and eliminating pre-existing condition barriers. These core truths will reframe the dialogue and elevate the debate in a way that arguing the specifics of the plan never will. It will also easily reveal any lies that either side may be telling.
Note: If your core truth is that you want the other side to fail, you don't get to play.
Step 2. Sell the big picture goals to the American public
Selling healthcare to John and Jane Q Public is just like when the CEO tries to implement a new manufacturing process or a cost-cutting measure. You have to get people to buy into the goals before they will support an implementation plan. If you don't sell them on the need, all you'll get is bellyaching. (Exhibit A: Tea baggers. Exhibit B: Disengaged Dems)
Do a Ross Perot and get out the pie chart if you have to; the important thing is to communicate the goals clearly and succinctly, not the plan itself. The goals come first.
These first two steps should take no more than 30 days.
Step 3. Invite leaders to assess the current proposed plan against the agreed upon truths
Once you've established the core truths, you now have a framework for evaluating a plan (rather than endless debate). You can add, subtract, or revise as needed because all solutions are assessed against the big picture goals. Allocate thirty days for round one, thirty days for round two, and there is no round three. Blockers and their falsehoods will be quickly revealed, and the people working towards a solution will be rewarded.
Congressional tip: You're the middle managers of America, and we pay you to solve problems, not stymie solutions.
We might think that reframing a problem with a goals discussion will make the process take longer. But after a decade of working with major corporations and civic groups, I've found that a reframe like this actually shortens the debate time by at least 50%.
When you get the truths on the table early, you get better buy-in, and you eliminate the false arguments that polarize people.
The process I describe is simple, but it's not easy. As we've all seen, when the fear button gets pushed, people make all kinds of crazy assumptions.
But the current model of assuming bad intent and arguing over the endless details has taken months and months, and we're more angry at each other than when we started.
Do we want to continue the stalemate? Or are we ready to try a different approach?
Lisa Earle McLeod is syndicated columnist, author, keynote speaker and inspirational thought-leader. She is not an expert in healthcare or politics. She is an expert in helping people solve problems. Her latest book The Triangle of Truth: The Surprisingly Simple Secret to Resolving Conflicts Large And Small has been cited as a blueprint to "help smart people get better at everything." See- www.TriangleofTruth.com for a video intro.